The AI Search Briefing

Rumor Has It… Google Has a Secret Link Score. | The AI Search Briefing #40

Ralph Peterson 7Trillion SEO Season 1 Episode 43

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 2:13

Rumor has it Google has a secret link quality score. Maybe. Maybe not. But here is what we do know: in today’s search world, and especially in AI Search, the question is not just “Who links to you?” The better question is, “Does that link make sense?” In this episode of The AI Search Briefing, Ralph Peterson of 7Trillion SEO explains why random backlinks, generic guest posts, and high-number SEO tool metrics are not enough. A link from your local Chamber of Commerce makes sense. A local news story makes sense. A trade association in your industry makes sense. But a random blog talking about crypto, dog food, roof repair, celebrity gossip, and carpet cleaning? That does not make sense. Stop buying random authority. Start building relevant trust. Think Big. Be Trusted. Be Recommended. 

The AI Search Briefing is a daily 1–3 minute update helping business owners, marketers, and SEO professionals understand how AI is changing search. 

SPEAKER_00

Hi, I'm Ralph Peterson of 7 Trillion SEO and this is the AI Search Briefing. Rumor has it Google has a secret link quality score. Now I don't know if I'd call it a secret score, but I do think there's something real going on here. Because in today's search world and especially in AI search, the question is not just who links to you. The better question is does that link make sense? That's the part a lot of businesses miss. A link from your local chamber of commerce makes sense. A link from a local news story makes sense. A link from a trade association in your industry makes sense. But a link from some random blog that writes about crypto, dog food, rough repair, celebrity gossip, and carpet cleaning, that doesn't make sense. And if it doesn't make sense to a person, there's a pretty good chance it does not make sense to a machine either. So no, I would not tell a local business owner to go buy a bunch of random guest posts. I would tell them to build real-world authority. Join the chamber, get listed and trusted local directories, sponsor something in the community, and when possible, make sure the surrounding text clearly says who you are, what you do, where you do it. Because not only the link matters, but the story around the link matters just as much. So rumor has it Google has a secret link score? Eh, maybe, maybe not. But here's what I do know: the best links are the ones that make sense before you even open an SEO tool. Stop buying random authority. Start building relevant trust. I'm Ralph Peterson of 7 Trillion SEO. Think big. Be trusted. Be recommended.